Systemic strategies to improve anesthesia safety in China

LIU Henry; YANG Longqiu; YU Ling

Abstract：Anesthesia safety has been improved dramatically over the last century as a result of the tremendous efforts by anesthesia community worldwide.Strategies at different levels can be adopted in China to further improve anesthesia safety for Chinese patients.On the national level, Chinese Ministry of Health can work with Chinese Society of Anesthesiology (CSA) to improve standardized anesthesia residency training and anesthesiology certification examination, establish Standard of Care, start national and regional anesthesia data registry, set up a minimum equipment requirement for surgical operating room, minimum staffing requirement and minimum training requirement for perioperative personnel, and promote nationwide utilization of WHO Safe Surgery Checklist.On the hospital level, hospital administration should provide perioperative services with adequate equipment, adequate staffing and adequate training of employees.Hospital should have Emergency Preparedness protocol and Department of Anesthesiology should provide regular training in Crisis Management.Hospital and Department of Anesthesiology should also encourage reporting of incident and mishaps, and have regular Morbidity and Mortality discussions.All anesthesia providers should thoroughly review pertinent patient information preoperatively, have backup plans for all potential problems, maintain highly vigilant intraoperatively, and closely monitor recovering patient postoperatively.By adopting these strategies and working closely between all levels of anesthesia providers, we can surely improve our anesthesia safety for our patients.